This 1951 Henry J Gasser Breathes Fire on the Streets of Illinois

There has always been a fascination with cramming the maximum amount of horsepower into the lightest body available to take on the quarter-mile. This was never more evident than during the ’60s, especially when Gasser Wars were lighting up tracks from coast to coast. This was about the same time that Tom Peters of Crescent City, Illinois, was starting to frequent local dragstrips, even venturing to US 30 Dragstrip in Indiana to experience the scent of burning rubber and nitromethane. It was there where he came under the spell of Gassers and hot rodding.

Growing up in an era fueled by the emergence of Hot Wheels, slot car tracks, and a steady stream of plastic kit models, including the Tom Daniels–inspired Badman 1955 Chevy Gasser, it was easy to see the influences that led him down a high-performance path. It was also a time when you couldn’t pass a local gas station without seeing a straight axle–inspired drag car parked outside the service bays since racing had gained such wide popularity. By the time he was 14 he dragged home his first project with cash he had earned while working at the local alignment shop. The 1972 Chevy Vega GT was a roller that he transplanted a 350ci Olds V-8 into, matched to a 12-bolt rear, completed by the time he was 16. A 1970 Olds Cutlass S soon followed, accompanied by a bevy of other muscle cars as the years passed. Although his current collection is packed with hopped-up ’60s traditional muscle, including a 1965 Olds 442 drag car, 1969 Pontiac GTO, and era-correct front engine Top Fuel dragster, something was still missing. The memories of watching Gassers run in his teen years sparked the search for a perfect candidate to start a build with.

A local quest led him to what appeared to be a fairly solid 1951 Henry J former drag car with an old flake paintjob and 289ci Ford V-8. It appeared to be relatively solid so a deal was made and the car was hauled back to the shop. Further examination revealed that it had a seen a rough life and that rust had crept into most of its shell. The car was torn down and the stock chassis was stripped and blasted clean to act as a base. Tom started by fabbing a custom front stub from 2×3-inch rectangular steel with custom crossmembers. Out back a Chevy 12-bolt rear packed with 5.13 gears links to Strange Engineering 33-spline axles. It’s suspended in place by custom 44-inch round tube ladder bars matched to rebuilt Henry J leaf springs with housing floaters and Lakewood tube shocks. To set the stance up front a Speedway Motors Gasser kit includes their exclusive straight front axle matched to 1949-1954 Chevy spindles with leaf springs and Lakewood tube shocks. To slow the speed a Wilwood Engineering dual master pushes fluid through steel lines to matching discs and calipers at each corner. It all meets the pavement on nostalgic 15-inch Cragar S/S wheels wearing M&H Racemaster rubber.

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To bring plenty of go to the table Tom built a fire-breathing V-8. Troy Tomchek of Ritchie massaged a 327ci base to 331 ci, which Tom filled with all the right bits, including a Chevy steel crank linked to Ansen aluminum rods wearing Manley pistons with bump coming from a Huggins Cams roller stick. Canfield aluminum heads generate plenty of power while up top a Holley Pro-Dominator tunnel ram wears a pair of Holley 600-cfm carbs capped with velocity stacks from Mr. Gasket. An MSD ignition lights the fire while owner-fabbed headers dump gases through 2-inch steel exhaust and Speedway Motors mufflers. To move the goods rearward, an ATI Ultra-Glide trans gets the job done linked to a custom chromoly driveshaft.

When it came time to breathe life back into the abused body Tom stripped it bare, mounted it on a rotisserie, and removed all the rust to get started. He followed by replacing the floors, inner and outer rocker panels, fabbing a new firewall, moving it back 12 inches and moving the dash back 6 inches. Outside he replaced the sheetmetal with a fiberglass tilt nose, doors, and rear quarters all from Anderson Industries. From there he gapped the panels and blocked the body to perfection, preparing it for paint. To add the vibe, Justin Nichols of Nichols Paint & Fab in Watseka worked his special voodoo in creating a nostalgic Gasser paint scheme with plenty of dazzling visual impact from Matrix Andromeda base combined with red and black candy. Tom Evans of Mantino then added the graphics, completing the look. Inside it’s all business with the stock dash filled with dials from Stewart-Warner to monitor the vitals along with a column-mounted Moroso tach to watch the revs. A vintage Superior 500-series wheel carves the course while gears pull though a Cheetah SCS stick and a custom 10-point rollcage keeps it safe. Apple Tree Automotive covered the fiberglass buckets with diamond pattern black vinyl accented by aluminum door and side panels. This is one fierce Street Shaker that’s making it known on the streets of Illinois, and we dig it.